NY Waterfront Commission: Hiring of vets too slow

The Waterfront Commission of New York Harbor, in a press release issued Tuesday, said that the New York Shipping Association and International Longshoremen’s Association are dedicating most of their efforts to employing and training new workers from their own referrals "to the severe disadvantage of the veterans."
The Waterfront Commission pointed to a press release from last October in which it said the “NYSA and ILA touted their dedication and pledged their commitment to hiring returning veterans” using a plan that called for 51 percent of new hires to be military veterans, 24 percent to be NYSA referrals, and 25 percent ILA referrals.
The commission said hiring statistics on the NYSA website shows that “while their plan calls for the hiring of 348 military veterans, they have only sent 216 veteran candidates to the Waterfront Commission to be prequalified as longshoremen. Many of these individuals have just recently been sent in response to the Waterfront Commission's demand for veteran candidates. By contrast, the industry has sent 192 ILA candidates (there are only 171 available openings) and 212 NYSA candidates (there are only 163 available openings) to the Waterfront Commission to be processed.”
“Over the past several months, the Waterfront Commission has had to forcefully advocate on behalf of veterans whose background checks have been cleared and who are simply waiting for the NYSA and ILA to put them to work in the port," the commission said.
“As of today," it added, "there are over 50 veterans who have been cleared by the Waterfront Commission and who are waiting for industry sponsorship in order to work in the Port. The Waterfront Commission urges the NYSA and ILA to immediately sponsor those individuals.”
The commission, NYSA and ILA are involved in litigation over hiring rules that the commission is seeking to impose.